I was doing a workshop last week, and met a lady who through the exercise we were doing discovered that she had a very strong gift of helping others reach their potential.
What a great gift to have! Many leaders strive to be effective in this area, and would be thrilled to learn they have this skill.
Interestingly, she did not feel this way! She sat back in her chair, crossed her arms and shook her head. She did not believe it. In her mind there is no way she could have this skill. When I challenged her on this she told me she knew someone who was extremely gifted in this area, and she was nothing like them!
How often do we do this as leaders? God has placed unique gifting and talents inside of us to make a difference in peoples' lives, but so often we doubt and discard them because we compare with others.
This reminded me of the story of David. The Bible tells us that David was a man after God's own heart.
He was a shepherd boy.
But, he was also a giant killer!
We know the story. David hears about Goliath and wants to kill him for coming against the army of the Living God. We read in 1 Samuel 17 v 33-40:
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
"I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
David knew who God was and who God had made him to be... Powerfully unique! There was the temptation for David to conform to how other warriors had fought powerful enemies, to try copy their tactics and use their weapons. But he responded differently, he was true to himself and used what God had put in his hand.
What has God put in your hands as a leader that is powerfully unique? Are you trusting in who God has made you to be, or are you comparing to others?
Are you disqualifying yourself because of a comparison you are making with another persons giftings?
The word tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are powerfully unique. Imagine if we had to believe in and celebrate that uniqueness and lead others out of who God has made us to be?
May you gain great excitement and courage as you look at what you have in your hands and know that you can accomplish great things.
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Don Muller has spent the last 4 years working into corporate and church leadership development and training both locally and internationally. He has a passion for and works towards seeing individuals live out their strengths and calling daily.